Zambia Probes Entebbe Terror

By Alfred Wasike ZAMBIA has sent security personnel to join Uganda in interrogating six Pakistani and a Zambian national suspected to be linked to a terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden. Interpol (International Police) is probing a Pakistani-based travel agency that arranged their travel. Bin Laden is the prime suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on the US. Fresh information shows that security officials are also investigating a new lead that three of the Pakistani suspects, Malik Maqbool, Waseem Sarwar and Essa Khan were trying to register a company in Uganda called Kam Agro Limited “without finances and clear business.” The New Vision has also learnt that the Pakistanis were arrested with forged travel documents in Kirgistan in 1999 and deported back to Pakistan but they subsequently, “sneaked” to Zambia and later Burundi where they operated a company called MOC International in Bujumbura together with a Burundi army colonel. “Zambia has sent a security official to Uganda to help with the investigations. Senior Police Intelligence officer, Peter Bubenshi, is here. We also suspect that they have a racket for getting visas for Pakistanis and other people through Belgium to unknown destinations,” the Police spokesperson, Asuman Mugenyi, told The New Vision yesterday. The suspects were arrested at Entebbe International Airport while in transit from Rwanda to an undisclosed destination. Some of them were picked up at Kansanga, a city suburb. The other Pakistanis are Khan Imtaz, Slaman Muhamoud Khan and Mumtax Ahmed. The Zambian is Mukanga Murenga. “We suspect they have been using Belgium as a transit point. We think they have also been using Uganda to arrange travel to Sweden, Ireland, Cuba and elsewhere. Now we are wondering why they were trying to start a company here without finances and clear business,” Mugenyi said. Inspector General of Police Major General Katumba Wamala said the suspects would appear in a Kampala court on charges of terrorism and fake travel documents. “We also suspect that they are involved in human trafficking from this region to yet unknown destinations. When we searched them, we found passports of people who had been arrested in Rwanda. They also had fake visas for Uganda and Rwanda,” Wamala said. Ends